I said Roberts voted the way he did to save his court and his legacy. Then I said I thank Hillary Clinton, Barak Obama, and the Liberal SC justices.

What I wanted to say is... The Republicans have been nothing but obstructionists and asshats for two decades over this issue. If it weren't for them, my grandmother would probably still be with us. And then all sorts of expletives went through my head.

Tax credits to help the middle class afford insurance will become available for those with income between 100% and 400% of the poverty line who are not eligible for other affordable coverage. (In 2010, 400% of the poverty line comes out to about $43,000 for an individual or $88,000 for a family of four.) The tax credit is advanceable, so it can lower your premium payments each month, rather than making you wait for tax time. It’s also refundable, so even moderate income families can receive the full benefit of the credit. These individuals may also qualify for reduced cost-sharing (copayments, co-insurance, and deductibles).

Americans who earn less than 133% of the poverty level (approximately $14,000 for an individual and $29,000 for a family of four) will be eligible to enroll in Medicaid. States will receive 100% federal funding for the first three years to support this expanded coverage, phasing to 90% federal funding in subsequent years.

Wendall Potter is a hero. I've wondered how the insurance industry would react if the individual mandate was struck down, but the rest of the ACA remains. It seems the health/profit insurance industry fears that scenario the most.

Et tu, Ron?

As President Obama read former Aetna CEO Ron Williams’ op-ed in The Wall Street Journal renouncing his support for a key provision of the health care reform law, he must have felt like Julius Caesar when Caesar realized, as he drew his last breath, that his close friend Brutus was in cahoots with his assassins.

...

Williams’ op-ed would never have appeared in the Journal if industry leaders weren’t nervous about what the high court will do. Their worst fear is that the mandate will be struck down but the rest of the law will be allowed to go forward. Knowing they can’t rely on Obama and the Democrats to get rid of the new regulations and consumer protections under that scenario — they’ve tried without much success so far — they will need to help flip the White House and the Senate to Republican control to be certain the job gets done.

Williams’ real audience for that op-ed was Republicans lawmakers and kingmakers. It was a signal to the GOP that the industry’s brief and often rocky affair with Obama is over and done with, that they were just playing the Democrats all along.

Rupert Murdoch lost his News of the World "news"paper over phone hacking. Tampering with an individual's personal phone in order to get the story, in the UK, is not condoned. But what if the surveillance equipment wasn't the personal property of the target? It appears that in the US, our journalism schools are now teaching students how to conduct surveillance via drones.